Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu on Monday pledged his support for the Covid-19 vaccination.
The arch, together with the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation, is urging mense to ignore fake news about the vaccine.
“Vaccinations have ignited hope for lives and livelihoods,” the Foundation said.
Tutu pledged to be vaccinated against Covid-19 as soon as one became available to him.
“We are encouraged by the Archbishop’s sincere public pledge, and we call on other public figures to make similar pledges,” said Foundation CEO Piyushi Kotecha.
In his pledge, Tutu said Covid-19 has wreaked havoc, but vaccines can stop it.
“Vaccines have eradicated terrible diseases such as smallpox, and we are close to using them to make others, such as polio and measles, history.
“Yet many people are scared or wary of this simple, safe and effective way of protecting people against infectious diseases before they even come into contact with them,” he said.
The Arch said he lost two years of his life after contracting TB as a teenager in 1945.
“It robbed me of two years of my life as I underwent treatment in a TB hospital. I was lucky. I recovered.”
He said in many countries, TB is no longer a threat thanks to a combination of vaccines and effective treatment.
“We can do the same with Covid-19, and claim our lives back. The more people who are vaccinated against Covid-19, the more every one of us is protected against this unpredictable and devastating disease.”
Health experts said vaccination breaks the chain of transmission, but to do that properly, at least 67% of South Africans need to be vaccinated.